PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

PRESS CONFERENCE BY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

At a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, the findings of a United Nations Panel investigating the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was endorsed by a three-person Commission assembled by that country’s Government.

Pierre Okongo Lumbi, the Coordinator of the Commission of the National Expert Group on the Illegal Exploitation of the Natural Resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said his Commission concurred with the conclusions of the United Nations Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 

Mr. Lumbi was joined by the other two members of the Commission, Yoko Yakembe and Mabi Nulunba.  The Panel released its report last month, finding, among other things, that the systematic exploitation of natural resources and other forms of wealth of the Democratic Republic continued unabated.  The pillages included a large number of State and non-State actors, belonging both to the region and outside, some of which were directly involved in the armed conflict currently ongoing in the Democratic Republic.

Mr. Lumbi said the Commission, which was formed last June, agreed with the Panel's report that the four main resources being exploited were mining, agri-pastoral, financial and material.  In mining, he said the chief resources affected were diamonds and gold.  In fact, he charged, between 1998 and 2001, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi exploited $1.5 billion worth of those resources.  Linkages were found between the armed groups and businessmen, who exploited humans to be used in trafficking.

Mr. Yakembe said it was the task of the Commission to emphasize to the Security Council the drastic effects that pillaging and exploitation had on the Democratic Republic.  "We came to New York City to tell the Security Council that the experts of the United Nations found a direct linkage between exploitation of the resources and the continuation of the war, which has killed over 1 million Congolese a year", he said.

Mr. Lumbi pointed out that fighting in the Democratic Republic has resulted in 3 million deaths, 2 million people internally displaced and

200,000 refugees outside of the country.  Further, he said 71 per cent of school-aged children –- totaling 8 million –- did not attend school.  Moreover, 16 million people –- one-third of the Congolese population –- were threatened by famine exacerbated by the war.

Mr. Yakembe said it was not unusual for other States and actors to exploit the resources of the Democratic Republic.  It was, in fact, "economic activity".  But, when States, businesses and individuals were not invited into the country, it violated the international sovereignty of the Democratic Republic and constituted illegal acts.  "International law was being violated by Member States of the United Nations", he added.

However, responding to a question about a reference in the Panel's report to Zimbabwe, Mr. Yakembe said Zimbabwe was an ally and one of the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that had agreed to defend the Democratic Republic.

He said Zimbabwe came “at the invitation” of the Democratic Republic.  The United Nations couldn’t equate “acts of pillaging” by Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi with cooperation between Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic.

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